There is precious little that will get me to spend 6 hours outdoors in the freezing cold rain. Miley Cyrus on the set of the Sex and the City 2 set apparently is one of those few things.

From 7pm-1am, I was waiting outside the Ziegfeld Theatre as they setup for the shoot. I saw the red carpet being rehearsed on, the lighting being set up, and the crew dashing around to cover things as it began to rain. I saw the extras being ushered onto the set in herds, dressed to the nines when it was <40 degrees out. I overheard plenty of foreigners and tourists gabbing about the actors, the show, and what was happening on the set.

I obviously didn’t know ahead of time that they wouldn’t begin shooting til after 11pm, otherwise I wouldn’t have wasted 4+ hours of my life freezing my arse off and twiddling my thumbs. But I did what I do best: space out and play with my camera. I also took a walk around Times Square in search of caramel apple cider. You’d think there’d be a Starbucks on every corner, but the ONE TIME I’m actually looking for one, there are none around.

After 11, the actors began to arrive. I had a good view of the male cast as they stood inside the Ziegfeld lobby waiting to start the scene. Yes, Smith Jarrod (Jason Lewis) is one hunk of a man, worthy of a spot on anyone’s “list”. Stanford and Anthony look just as they do on screen. And Mr. Big is… big (tall)! But I didn’t get more than an obstructed view of them through the window and between tent poles and peoples’ heads. And the door they used to exit onto the set was to the side and out of view so I was SOL.

The whole time they were shooting, I could just barely see the tops of the actors’ heads through the crowd of extras that had been cast as fellow red carpet goers or paparazzi. And I’m pretty sure some legitimate paps had wormed their way onto the set somehow, though I was unable to get past security. It was so discouraging. Couple that with the rain that had begun again and I was pretty disappointed with the night. All that waiting/suffering for this?!

I was about to call it a night when I ran into another guy with a camera. Turns out he wasn’t part of the paparazzi (real or fake), but was in town for the week for a work conference. He had somehow waltzed onto the set unnoticed for a good half hour and had actually been in the theatre and by the red carpet! He showed me some pictures he got of Kim Cattrall, not even knowing who she was! I guess he was just up for an adventure and wasn’t even a fan, but had seen the shoot from his hotel across the street and decided to check it out. So we talked about photography for a bit and then we decided to try to sneak onto the set again. We were caught immediately, of course. He was wearing a spiffy red suit jacket so he probably looked more legit than I did with my puffy coat and backpack. So then he offered to let me into his hotel so I could watch from the second floor windows.

Ahh, if only I had been there all along! It was warm and toasty inside the Hilton, and yielded a prime view of the set from above. I was just in time to see the last take with Miley Cyrus on the red carpet, wearing the same dress as Samantha (Kim Cattrall). They hugged and posed for pictures at the end, and then Sarah Jessica Parker joined them as well. It was all so surreal. I (not-so-?)secretly love Miley, and my friends all tease me about it, so it was crazy seeing this teen megastar right in front of me, doing a scene for one of my favorite series of all-time.

They finished the scene around 1am and took a break, at which point I sat on the floor of the hotel and edited my photos. The wifi crapped out on me though, so I had to go to another hotel to upload them… because of course time is everything when celebrity photos are involved! I was on the train by 2am and home by 3. Now that, my friends, is called DEVOTION (or insanity, fandom, madness, etc).